Website of the month

A site many of you will already be familiar with. Delicious.com (known to long time users as del.icio.us) is a ‘social book marking site’ that categorises users’ favourite websites under distinct headings. At first seeming rather basic, once you start searching topics (or tabs as they are known) delicious offers up a very addictive and highly useful tool for easy net exploration.

Using Delicious

Simple to use, you type your topic into the search bar on the home page and a list of relevant sites will pop up. Each site will have a blurb about what it is, a list of tabs showing which category(s) users have registered it under and the amount of people who have bookmarked the site.

Setting up your own Delicious page

Creating your own Delicious user account is easy. Visit delicious.com and click on the Join Now! link. Once your details are logged it gives you the option to put Delicious icons onto your tool bar, these icons allow you to add tabs to your delicious profile as you surf the net.

To check out Manzana’s educational assistant bookmarks
• Go to delicious.com
• Click on the sign in link – Top of the page
• Click on the people tab – Top of the page
• Enter ManzanaNZ under username

From there you will see a list of our favourite educational websites from over the years. We will be continually updating our page so if you’re looking for easy to use educational sites look us up. Also, if you have any websites you’re just dying to tell people about, send us an email liam@manzana.co.nz and we will add them to the list.

Name: Delicious – previously del.icio.usAddress:www.delicious.comPurpose: Social book marking site (database) that allows its users to categorise their favourite websites, giving other users the chance to check them out.

iDesktop.tv

iDesktop.tv is a fantastic online resource for those of us out there that have a penchant for using YouTube. iDesktop is an identical content clone of YouTube.com with all videos listed on YouTube appearing on iDesktop. The difference between the two sites ends up being iDesktop’s advanced usability and features in managing the websites content.

With iDesktop, users have the ability to directly download video clips onto their computers. The videos can be saved under various types of media formats: windows media player, apple quick player, mp3, mp4 formats for ipod and phone, zip, flash and as exe.

The sites usability is also where it stands out. You can copy and paste a YouTube url or search for the video directly on iDesktop. All videos are shown in an individual pop up window in front of your search results and all videos watched are shown in a play list along the bottom of the browser ready for you to download.

The site is extremely easy on the eye and even offers you the chance to change the colour of the background to ‘suit your mood’. Also, by having the ability to save your video choices you no longer have to directly use the net during lessons.

Cunning points about iDesktop.tv• Download videos to your desktop in multiple formats.
• View videos in different aspect ratios i.e. 16:9 widescreen
• Easy to use drag’n’drop play list along the bottom of your screen
• Easy to use sliding bar to resize the screen to include more searched videos
• Videos played in pop up window.

Name: iDesktopAddress:www.idesktop.tvPurpose: A new way to search, watch and download YouTube clips.

Zamzar.com

Is a free online file conversion site that allows you to convert various files that you have into the formats that you want. You can convert files from your computer or simply put in a URL address for say a TeacherTube clip and it will convert it for you, sending it directly to your e-mail.

The site is extremely easy to use and has a whole host of formats that it can convert your documents into.

This summer, the University of Auckland Department of Civil Engineering has supplied eight student interns to work with Xorro on developing a targeted learning solution. These interns have been working alongside another seven interns from Massey University contributing to product development in Xorro Workboook and Xorro-Q projects.

This week Xorro releases version 2.2 of its Workbook whiteboarding software, co-branded Alphateach in the UK and Europe. The new version includes features such as PDF import, enhanced design of the ruler tool, added grid functions and much more.

Whether it’s raising an 84″ display to above head height for crowds, or bringing 55″ interactive screens within easy reach of pre-schoolers, better design adds up to winning flexibility, sturdiness and safety. Getting it wrong means less value from your display, and substantial costs and safety issues. We take a look at the latest & best options for securing, lifting and moving large displays, keeping safety and durability foremost.

This week, after months of beta testing and progressive improvements, Xorro finally released version 2.0 of the powerful whiteboarding software Workbook (also branded Alphateach and Imergo Aqua in other markets). Workbook was originally written by 2Touch for use with 2Touch interactive whiteboards. Since 2013, Xorro has taken over all software related developments, and today Xorro Workbook is […]

Xorro-Q provides a simple game-like context that motivates students to practice algebra concepts. Using any browser (no plug ins or downloads needed) your students can “play” a problem-based algebra activity set by you. Xorro-Q’s Free Facilitator is ideal (and free) for groups of less than 33 participants. Test your own linear algebra skills on the sampler in the article. Then read on to find the simple instructions to get underway with your own Free Facilitator access.